Easington, Durham

Description
Easington, a village, a township, a parish, and a ward in Durham. The village stands 2 miles from the coast, 2 E of Haswell railway station, and 9^ E by N of Durham, occupies an elevated site, was anciently a place of importance, and has now a post, money order, and telegraph office under Castle Eden station (R.S.O.) The township includes the village, and comprises an area of 5058 acres; population, 1262; of the ecclesiastical parish, 1289. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham; value, £1131 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Durham. The church is ancient and has a nave 63 feet by 46, with pillars round and octagonal, a chancel 42 feet by 20, and a conspicuous tower 60 feet high, and was thoroughly restored in 1853. The parsonage is a very ancient edifice, with traces of a chapel. Bernard Gilpin, B.D., " Apostle of the North," was rector. There are Wesleyan and Roman Catholic chapels, and a recreation club, with reading and billiard rooms. Little Thorpe hamlet and Horden Hall, an ancient manorial residence, are in this township. There are extensive collieries at Shotton, Haswell, and South Hetton, which places were formerly in the parish, but are now distinct ecclesiastical districts. The workhouse is in Easington township. The ward comprehends the central part of the eastern side of the county, and is bounded on the W and the N by the river Wear, from the neighbourhood of Croxdale to the sea, and on the S, for a short distance, by the river Skerne to the E of Fishburn.